Electrical signaling apparatus



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A.A.ANDERSEN. ELECTRICAL SIGNALING APPARATUS.

No. 586,891 Patented July 20,1897.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2-.

AA. ANDERSEN, ELEGTRIGAL SIGNALING APPARATUS.

No. 586,891. Patented July 20,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.-

ANDREW A. ANDERSEN, OF ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTRICAL SIGNALING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 586,891, dated July 20, 1897.

Application filed February 14,1896. Serial No. 579,313. (No model.)

To all whom it-may concern;

Be it known that I, AN REW A. ANDERSEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Altoona, in the county of Blair and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Signaling Apparatus; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to .make and use the same.

This invention relates to electrical signaling apparatus.

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus by which signals, both visual and audible, may be transmitted with readiness and ease without the requirement of any skill on the part of the sender, or, in other words, a device that shall be so simply constructed and easily operated that a knowledge merely of figures or characters is the only requisite to its proper use; furthermore, to provide a signaling apparatus in which the act of setting the transmitting portion thereof to transmit a signal will place its actuating mechanism in condition to transmit electrically both audible and visual signals to the of manufacture.

With these objects in View the invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts of an electric signaling apparatus, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed. 7

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, I have illustrated an embodiment of my invention, although it is to be understood that other forms of embodiment thereof may spring-pressed pawl a be employed without departing from the spirit of the same.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in plan of the transmitter, the dial and the plates for supporting the operative parts of the apparatus being here represented as transparent in order to show the relative position of the parts. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the receiver. Fig. 3 is a detail view, partly in section, on an enlarged scale, of the hand or pointer actuating mechanism of the receiver. Fig. etis an elevation, partly in section, showing more clearly the arrangement of the spring-barrel, the circuit make-and-break wheel, and the contactbrushes of the transmitter. Fig. 5 is a detail view of a portion of the ratchet-wheel of the spring-barrel. Fig. '6 is a similar view of a portion of the spring-barrel.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the transmitter, comprising a main drivingwheel A rigid with a main or center arbor a, a barrel a in tegral with or rigidly attached to thesaid wheel and containing an ordinary clock-springcfi, and a circuit make-and-break wheel a also rigid with the shaft.

The arbor a of the wheel'A works at one end in a bearing a in the back plate A of the frame supporting the actuating mechanism and at the other endin a hollow arbor aflwhich projects through the front plate A and beyond the dial A and carries an indicatinghand A", in the nature of a crank.

The hollow arbor has rigidly secured to it a ratchet-wheel a constituting a closure for one side of the spring-barrel, and upon which or'against which the spring-barrel bears, with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel projecting beyond the barrel a sufficient distance to permit of their being engaged by an ordinary The hollow arbor is provided with a hook-shaped lug or projection 6&9 for engaging an eye provided at the inner end of the spring a the other end of the spring being in engagement with a stud a on the inner wall of the spring-barrel. The ratchet-wheel is provided with a pin a, projecting at right angles to the face of the wheel for engaging with a similar pin co arranged within the barrel, the function of these two pins being to limit the rotation of the hollow arbor when the spring is being wound up and to arrest the motion of the main driving-gear when it has rotated a predetermined distance, a complete rotation of the indicating-hand scrvin g to place the spring under sulficient tension to cause the indicating-hand of the receiver to travel entirely around the dial.

It will be seen that the arbor of the main driving-wheel, together with the spring-barrel, rotates about the hollow arbor and is entirely free from it except at the point where the spring is connected with the arbor, this arrangement permitting of the indicatinghand being moved around to any desired point on the dial without moving the main drivingwheel.

In assembling the parts constituting the spring-barrel the spring isinitially placed under a tension suilicient to operate the parts of the transmitter and is held under this tension by the pins a and e and in the act of setting the indicating-hand the spring is further wound up, so that the actuating mechanism can never run downthat is to say, the spring is always under a tension sufficient to operate the mechanism of the transmitter even if the indicating-hand is moved only one point on the dial. This hand, by reason of its connection with the hollow arbor a, will remain opposite or over the numeral or character on the dial to which it has been turned until moved to transmit another signal, so that it will be easy at all times not only to ascertain the number of the signal last transmitted but also to detect if an operator has made a mistake in sending a signal.

The ratchet-wheel and the circuit makeand-brake wheel are each provided with a like number of teeth, the number to correspond with the number of divisions on the dial, it being understood that these two wheels,

together with the eseape-wheel of the receiver, to be described farther on, must each always have the same number of teeth, and that this number must correspond with the divisions of the dial, and that the dial may be divided into any number of divisions to meet the requirements of the case.

The main drive-wheel meshes with the pinion a of a second wheel (1 and the teeth of this wheel with the pinion (not shown) of an escape-wheel a, the latter being engaged by an ordinary verge at, the arbor a" of which carries a counterbalance e operating also to keep the verge in the proper position with relation to the teeth of the escape-wheel when the instrumentis placed in a vertical position.

The circuit make-and-break wheel a is engaged by spring-contacts a carried by an insulating-block a and the contacts are connected throughsuitable conductors (L with two other contact-pieces a adapted to engage with plates a secured to binding-posts (0 from which latter wires X and Y, including a battery or othersource of electrical energy, lead to and connect with like bindingposts on the receiver 13. The spring-contacts, of which there are two in the embodiment of my invention as exhibited in the present application, engage the circuit make-andbreak wheel and are arranged in this instance parallel with each other, the circuit between the two being completed through the said wheel.

The receiver 13 COII'lDl'lSOS two electromagnets b, an armature b, a pivoted lever b secured to and vibrated by the armature, a verge I), carried by the lever, an escapewheel I), actuated by the impact of the verge, and an indicator-hand B carried by the arbor of the escape-wheel. The verge has one of its palletslfi, rigid and the other one,Z/ ,pivoted to an arm or projection Z1 on the lever and connected by a link I)" with an adjusting device b,o perati n g to set the pallets in proper position with relation to the teeth of the escape-wheel and also to take up and thereby compensate for wear of the pallets. This adjusting device comprises a stud I), mounted on the supporting-plate B of the operating mechanism and provided with openings 1), by which the stud may be turned, by the insertion of a suitable tool, in either direction, and a screw I1 eccentrically located on the stud and serving as a bearing for the link. The teeth of the escapewheel are triangular in shape in order that when the pallets of the verge engage them they will slide down the sides of the teeth and thereby impart a rotary motion to the wheel. The reason for having one of the pallets rigid and the other one pivoted is to accomplish the rotation of the escape-wheel with but a slight vibration of the lever, in order that the armature will at all times be within the magnetic field and thereby readily responsive to the attraction of the electromagnets when energized. To this end instead of having the escape'wheel escape one tooth at each impulse of the verge it only escapes one-half a tooth, the rigid pallet, when the lever is attracted toward the magnets, contacting with the under side of a tooth at its point and turning the wheel until the edge of the pallet strikes the base of the tooth, and the pivoted pallet, when the magnets are demagnetized and the lever is drawn back by a spring I), contacting with the upper side of a tooth at its point and moving the escape-wheel a distance equivalent to onehalf a tooth. It will be seen that great nicety of adjustment is required to accomplish this movement, as the teeth of the escape-wheel are small and the distance they move at each double impulse of the verge is very short, and

also that slight wear of either of the pallets of the verge would result in derangement of the transmitting mechanism. By the arrangement described for adjusting one of the pallets of the verge with relation to the other perfect adjustment may be secured at all times to compensate for wear either of the verges or of the escape-wheel b In order to compensate for the fluctuations in the force of the current to the electromagnets, the spring Z), which retracts the lever,

is secured in any suitable manner to a headed rod Zfii-which is adapted to be turned so as to increase or diminish the tension of the spring, according as the current is strong or weak. The head of the rod is projected beyond the face of the dial B, so that the ten sion of the spring may readily be changed without removing the mechanism from its casing.

The electromagnets are electrically connected with spring-contacts Z7 which latter, when the parts are assembled, engage with plates 1), secured to the binding-posts I), to which are connected the conductors X and Y, leading from the transmitter.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Let it be supposed that the transmitter is located atone end of a block-station and the receiver at the other end and that a train numbered, say, 19 has just started from the transmitter end of the station toward the receiver end. To notify the operator at this latter end of the station that a train is on the block, the operator moves the indicator-hand until the point is opposite the number 19, the turning of this hand operating to wind up the spring in the spring-barrel. As soon as the main drive-wheel begins to revolve the teethof the circuit make-and-break wheel are successively moved into and out of engagement with the spring contact-plates, thereby successively energizing. and denergizing the electromagnets of the receiver, and consequently vibrating the lever, thereby causing the pallets of the verge b to rotate the escapewheel and traverse the pointer over the dial until the number 19 is reached, when the pointer will stop.

It is to be understood that the movement of the pointer of the transmitter is synchronous with that of the receiverthat is to say, as soon as the pointer of the transmitter is moved the pointer of the receiver beginsimmediately to move, so that there will be no loss of time in sending a signal. In order to provide an audible means of attracting attention when the receiver is working, a gong C may be provided which is sounded by a clapper 0, attached to the lever 19 It is to be understood that the apparatus may be adapted for use in hotels by providing the dials with the names of di'lferent articles commonly called for by guests, such as Cold water, Hot water, Towels, f Paper,&c., by which arrangement the time lost by the bell-boy in answering a call will be avoided.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electrical signaling apparatus, a

- transmitter comprising a main arbor, a barrel rigid therewith and carrying a drive-wheel, a hollow arbor on the main arbor carrying a ratchet-wheel constituting a closure for one side of the spring-barrel, a spring connecting the barrel and the hollow arbor, a make-andbreak wheel on the main arbor, spring-contacts adapted to engage with the make-andbreak wheel, a train of gear for governing the movement of the make-and-break wheel, and a hand or pointer on the hollow arbor for placing the spring under tension, the said pointer being adapted to move in one direction only and to be followed immediately upon movement by rotation of the make-and-break wheel, substantially as described.

2. In an electrical signaling apparatus, a transmitter comprising a main arbor, a barrel rigid therewith and carrying a drive-wheel, a hollow arbor on the main arbor carrying a ratchet-wheel constituting a closure for one side of the spring-barrel, a spring connecting the barrel and the hollow arbor, a make-andbreak wheel on the main arbor, spring-contacts adapted to engage with the make-andbreak wheel, a train of gear for governing the movement of the make-and-break wheel, a

ments arranged in alinement, a main arbor,

a spring-barrel rigid therewith and carrying a drive-wheel, a hollow arbor projecting beyond the dial of the transmitter and provided with a ratchet-wheel constituting a closure for one side of the spring-barrel, and a makeand-break wheel on the main arbor, in combination with spring-contacts to engage with the make-and-break wheel, and a hand or pointer on the hollow arbor for placing the spring under requisite tension, and also for indicating the number of the signal to be transmitted, substantially as described.-

4- In an electrical signaling apparatus, a receiver comprising two electromagnets, a pivoted lever carrying an armature and a verge, and an escape-wheel actuated by the verge to operate a pointer, the said verge having one of its pallets rigid and the other pivoted, an adjustable stud, a link connected with the movable pallet, and a screw eccentrically mounted on the stud and serving to hold the link in place thereon, substantially ANDREW A. ANDERSEN.

Witnesses:

R. M. ELLIOTT, E. II. PARRY.

ICO 

